Mississippi alligator infestation suit before high court

Wilkinson Co. couple suing Exxon

An infestation of alligators on neighboring property forced a Wilkinson County couple from land where they planned to build a home and ExxonMobil should compensate them, the attorney for Tom Christmas and his wife argued Tuesday to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

However, lawyers for ExxonMobil argued the couple was told of the alligators before they bought the land. ExxonMobil said the Christmases waited too long to file a lawsuit and the three-year statute of limitations had passed.

The dispute involves more than 80 alligators that the Christmases argue they didn't discover on land next to their homestead until four years after they bought the property in southwest Mississippi.

ExxonMobil is appealing a state Court of Appeals ruling in May that returned the case to Wilkinson County for trial.